Eco Choice Award Winners Selected by Popular Vote at NYIGF
New York, NY – Three companies received Eco Choice Awards for presenting the most innovative and environmentally responsible gift and home products at the winter 2011 New York International Gift Fair® (NYIGF®).
The Eco Choice Awards, co-sponsored by NYIGF and GREENRetailer magazine, were bestowed to “green” gift and home products in three categories – Most Innovative, Most Sensitive Use of Materials and Most Sellable. Retailers attending NYIGF voted for their favorites from some 200 “green” products in NYIGF’s SustainAbility: design for a better world® display. Winners were selected for inventiveness, newness, aesthetics and functionality.
“The demand for eco-friendly products continues to grow, especially among design-savvy consumers,” said Dorothy Belshaw, NYIGF director and GLM senior vice president. “Thousands of retailers have weighed in this week with their top picks.”
The winners of the winter 2011 Eco Choice Awards are:
Most Innovative: Growbottle™ Upcycled HydroGarden by Potting Shed Creations
The Growbottle is made from up-cycled, repurposed restaurant wine bottles and is meant to be reused indefinitely in conjunction with replant kits, or recycled. The hydro garden method is fast, high yielding and a low impact way to garden right in a windowsill. Potting Shed manufactures all products by hand, resulting in minimal waste. This product was designed to be self contained and therefore requires minimal packaging. Potting Shed Creations provides regular product donations to support local and national causes. The company also allocates portions of revenue to organizations such as Save the Children for Haiti.
Most Sensitive Use of Materials: Teatulia Premium 100% Organic Teas by Teatulia
Each component of this product can be recycled or composted – both the eco-canisters and corn silk pyramid teabags are compostable and biodegradable. All packaging materials are recycled, and displays are made from 100% reclaimed Rocky Mountain Beetle-Kill Pine. These single-garden direct teas require less transportation to reach consumers. All Teatulia Teas are 100% USDA Certified Organic; no other tea line is exclusively organic. These teas are cultivated using the Fukuoka Farming Method, which has created a closed-loop ecosystem in which rainfall is the only irrigation. The company’s farming methods are sustainable, and the cooperative social model directly benefits the people in the surrounding community. Cattle lending and farm share programs give the community a means to attain a better quality of life.
Most Sellable: Galison Green Bon Voyage Writer’s Notebook by Galison Books
This product is made of 100% recycled paper. Due to the simplicity of the format design, it can easily be recycled again. This company’s factory is audited and complies with the ISO standards.
The 4th semi-annual Eco Choice Awards will be presented at the summer 2011 NYIGF, which runs Saturday, August 13, through Thursday, August 18, 2011, at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. NYIGF is the nation’s premier gift, home and lifestyle marketplace, with 2,800 exhibiting companies featuring an extraordinary breadth and depth of design-driven home fashion products and complementary giftware. Some 35,000 attendees from all 50 states and more than 85 countries worldwide are expected. NYIGF takes place at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and Passenger Ship Terminal Piers 92 and 94. For information and registration, visit www.nyigf.com.
